Low-Waste Home Cook
Sharing Tips on How to Waste Less Food
From Our Ohio Homestead
Are you tired of tossing out expensive groceries, literally scraping your valuable resources right into the trash, then feeling guilty about being a poor steward of your family's food supply?
I'm Heidi, and I can't stand that feeling. To me, wasting food is the worst. That's why I've spent the last 21 years finding ways to use-it-up and nourish my family with those resources instead. Such a better feeling, y'all!
About Me
I absolutely love cooking and baking! Daily, I'm compelled to be resourceful and use up what's on hand to feed my family wholesome and delicious meals. I truly want nothing wasted. I hope to inspire you to as well.
My Strong Passion
Healthy, low-waste cooking, that's my jam. Everyday, making nourishing, homemade meals to enjoy around the table with my family is my ongoing motivation and goal. I cannot bear to throw food away and feel oh so strongly about resource stewardship so I'm constantly inventing, or hunting down, ways to USE-IT-UP. And, I have a terrible sweet tooth and love baking but aim to always reduce refined sugar in every recipe. I make many yummy, guilt-free, naturally sweetened goodies. Let's go.
My Mission Here on the Blog
To equip and inspire mamas to joyfully feed their family with healthy, scratch-made meals with LOW-WASTE COOKING. Coaching how to use up their entire food supply, wasting less food and saving on the family budget. Offering tons of kitchen tips and yummy recipes to become a SUPER RESOURCEFUL, creative, and confident cook.
My Back Story
...why I care so much about food waste
In short, I was a malnutritioned child. The youngest of four. From the time I was one year old my mom was single, raising us all on her own, receiving no child support, nor welfare dollars. Mom worked very hard (away from home), and loved us greatly! Thank the good Lord we never starved, but we were "hungry". (To clarify, I'm talking about "First World", American standards of hunger.)
We were hungry for nutrient dense foods, like healthy proteins, minerals, and vitamins, like calcium, iron, and so forth. There was always something to eat; usually peanut butter on white bread. And darn it, those were the days before schools provided lunches for free to the underprivileged. We most definitely would've qualified. (I can recall packing a plain mayonnaise sandwich for lunch, more than once, to have something to eat during my school day.)
Those things leave a mark on ya. Thank the Lord also, for good therapy, and His affirmation that my low-waste tendencies come from Him; He uses it all! But the imprints of the importance of food will always be a part of me, and so, I cannot bear to throw away perfectly good food! Therefore, it is my lot to save it.
The immense value of food became even more real to me when I had my own babies (two, back to back). When I felt the weight of responsibility to nourish my little one's bellies, my vigilance ramped ten fold. That they never experience the distress of hunger, was my cry. Not if this mama could help it!
Low-Waste Home Cooking Career Began
Home cooking; specifically, stellar food stewardship, became my part-time "employment" (paid with the pride of a job well done, along with compliments, and requests for second helpings.) Don't get me wrong, I cared a lot about our daily bread before. I'd always eaten everything on my plate, brought home any restaurant leftovers; then gladly ate them for lunch the following day. But with me staying-at-home to raise our babies, while Jeremy worked two jobs to sustain us (thank the Lord for a husband who honored my convictions to stay-at-home with the kiddos), I considered my job as home cook a serious one. Not to mention, tremendously valuable. All scratch-made meals for a family of four; half of which were flourishing children, needing sufficient nutrients for healthy growth and development; all dead center of my radar. My daily goal: to feed my family very well, and waste as little as possible, on a budget to boot.
Longtime Home Cook
I'm a happy wife and homemaker, and mom of two young adults. Moving steadily from stay-at-home mom (SAHM), to homeschool mom, to now... homesteader. I adore being at home and thoroughly enjoy fueling my crew on healthy scratch-made meals; often bulk cooking, utilizing our abundant supply of eggs, and ample grass-fed beef from our small herd of Irish Dexter cattle.
I also preserve farm fresh milk in items like yogurt, kefir, and a few simple cheeses. We also raise a fair size vegetable garden, and in turn preserve lots of garden goods to put up for the year's consumption. Scratch cooking and produce preservation takes work and intentionality, but it tastes so good and is awesome on the household budget! I count it a great privilege to be a healthy home cook! It's a daily gift to our entire family.
Market Vendor
Another hat I wear weekly is farm market vendor. Utilizing our garden harvest, as well as local farm bounty, I make jams, salsas, and dry goods - like granolas and pancake mixes - that are all low or no refined sugar. We offer these wholesome homestead goodies year round (as I store ample produce in the freezer) to our nearby community at an adorable farm market shop. This also keeps me bustling daily in my farmhouse kitchen.
Resourceful Crafter
In my "free time" I'm a resourceful crafter, turning household recyclables and cast-offs into cute greeting cards and whimsical decor. This renews my soul! My mediums are paper and fabric. Repurposing things like brown grocery bags and vintage book pages and buttons on handmade greeting cards (I've been resourcefully card-making since 1995). I also deconstruct discarded clothes and linens to create soft and whimsical decor like festive garlands for parties and photo backdrops. Both functional and therapeutic hobbies. Not to mention... so very affordable!
Why I'm Blogging
My kids are young adults now. I'm done homeschooling, Hallelujah, and have more margin in my days to write. (I hope to create a cookbook in the future.) Beyond that, I have much conviction from the Lord to share my twenty+ years worth of tips and tricks on resourceful cooking and crafting with young ladies who care about resourcefulness and nurturing their families well.
I want to release these gems so they can be easily accessible to those who need a "mom to call" on for advice on what to do with say, a windfall of apples, tons of eggs, or aging milk. Or how to preserve, then use up summer's produce bounty (fresh and frozen). Even, using things up like spent coffee grounds, onion paper, and aged oranges to create resourceful handmade gifts for friends, family and neighbors. And much more.
Offering inspiration and know-how on healthy low-waste cooking and being great stewards of our valuable resources: this is why I'm here. Let's use-it-up, y'all!
What You Can Expect to Find Here
Here you'll find recipes and instruction on how to cook yummy low-waste scratch-made meals and desserts (my favorite course). There will be tons of tips on how to use-it-up, including bulk batching, and really wring your resources for all they're worth. You'll feel great that you've squeezed out all the nutrients and life from an item and wasting as little as possible. Plus, gain confidence to create your own ways to cook healthily and live resourcefully.
Ready to Dive In?
So are you feeling ready to jump off that sickening merry-go-round of food waste and learn some creative ways to use up all your precious edibles and become an excellent steward over your family's valuable resources? Well then, let's get cookin'.
I'm here to help ya out.
Very Warmly, Heidi
”My nourishment (nutrients) comes
from doing the will of God”
John 4:34